Gay/Lesbian Biblical Information
beware of politicians quoting the bible CHICAGO
SUN-TIMES Picking and choosing references
in attack on gays Years ago a country preacher in Tennessee warned me that "even the devil can quote the Bible." Sure enough, we've got politicians here who are quoting the Bible to justify discrimination. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has not only declared that homosexuals are sinners, he also said they manifest a sickness "like alcohol and sex addiction" and need help. House Majority Leader Dick Armey was quick to defend Lott, citing a passage from 1 Corinthians 6 that says, "Neither fornicators nor adolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God." Messrs. Lott and Armey probably will be heartened when I tell them that a more specific passage is in Leviticus 20:13, where God says to Moses: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death. . . " It is interesting that the bashers of homosexuals will take that literally, but will overlook God also saying to Moses: "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." Armey and Lott talk as though they are making the Bible the bedrock of public policy in America. If they really intend to take the Bible literally, not only will they have to make fornication a capital offense, they will have to ask every nominee for anything whether he or she has ever committed adultery. By those biblical standards they could clean out a majority of both the House and Senate. "I do abide by the Bible," Armey said in explaining his rejection of homosexuals. I wonder if he abides by Leviticus 11, in which God tells Moses that the people must not eat pork or rabbit or shrimp or lobster, or anything in the seas and rivers that does not have fins and scales? "Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the water shall be an abomination to you," Leviticus says. I've known preachers who would not take Leviticus seriously, but would argue that the Bible (Genesis 10) shows that God put a curse on Noah's son Ham, and doomed all his descendants to be servants. And black skins are, in the reading of some racists, a sign of that curse. The Bible is a remarkable book, subject to interpretations that justify deeds that are Christlike and acts that are inhuman. But it does not enlighten us on the question of whether homosexuality is a disease or a form of sexuality that was imposed by the Creator. One thing I'm sure of: We face calamity as a nation if our Congress is ever dominated by the passions of members who push their special interpretations of what the Bible says.
Talk at Fort Worth PFLAGPulled from the Fort Worth PFLAG siteFor our January program, we were fortunate to have Roger Waddell, director of the AIDS Interfaith Council, as our speaker. He drew from his broad knowledge of the Bible and the world's great religions to talk about religious beliefs and attitudes regarding homosexuality. The following is a summary of his talk. In Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, recognized world wide as a major Buddhist figure, has stated that there is no reason why homosexuals should not be welcomed by Buddhists. Another world religion, Islam is very clearly negative - the subject is not even discussible. Judaism's tradition is also clearly against recognition of homosexuality as a way of being, and Orthodox Jews continue to hold this view. Conservative Jews are in transition on this matter, having come out in support of the Hawaii same gender marriage law. Within Reform Judaism, there are openly gay and lesbian rabbis, and seminaries are graduating them. Reform Jews also have shown open support of the Hawaii law. The first issue for them is non-discrimination. The Christian perspective is based on scripture, although the words homosexual and homosexuality first appeared in 1898, in German, and 1912, in English. The comparable words did not exist in the various languages used at the time the Bible was written. There are references to homosexual acts in the Bible, but the concept of homosexuality as orientation is not found in the Bible. Study of the Bible reveals great concern over greed, mentioned over 200 times, and idolatry, mentioned over 400 times. Since homosexual acts are only mentioned 5 or 6 times, it appears that this was not an important issue at the time. There are several texts that are frequently cited by Christians who unaccepting of homosexuality. In discussing Sodom and Gomorrah, Roger pointed out that in the Middle East Rule No. 1 is hospitality. Rule No. 2 is that once having extended hospitality to a person, that person becomes a member of the family for the duration of the visit. The demand of Sodom's mob that Lot send out his visitors to them was a failure to recognize that rule of hospitality. When the story is told in the Book of Judges, two daughters are given in place of the visitors, which says a lot about the status of women of the period, and one of them dies as a result of the abuse. As Roger pointed out, rape is never about sex - it is about power and domination. Other Biblical references to Sodom and Gomorrah indicate that their sins were mistreatment of widows and orphans and inhospitality. The verses in Leviticus which ban same gender sex are about behavior, not orientation. That can be seen when we look at the cultural context: a small group of people surrounded by hostile groups. The people in the small group do not intermarry with outsiders, so the only was to grow is to have lots of children. Any behavior which interferes with or does not result in procreation is prohibited. In addition, this was a strongly male culture that believed that anything feminine in behavior was unacceptable in a man. Roger believes that reason and argument will not change rigid minds, that only experience can influence such opinions. Accepting that rigid minds may not be open to change prepares us to not allow them to hurt us, especially if we keep our sense of humor about it. Humor is a great disarmer. Discussion may not change people's minds on an issue, but it will let them know there are intelligent people who hold different opinions which they can support. Knowing someone who is hurt by discrimination can change a person's mind when facts do not. Biblical Verse: Is it a Reason or an Excuse?An Engineering professor is treating her husband, a loan officer, to dinner for finally giving in to her pleas to shave off the scraggly beard he grew on vacation.His favorite restaurant is a casual place where they both feel comfortable in slacks and cotton-polyester blend golf shirts. But, as always, she wears the gold and pearl pendant he gave her the day her divorce to her first husband was final. They're laughing over their menus because they know he always ends up diving into a giant plate of ribs, but she won't be talked into anything more fattening than shrimp. Quiz: How many Biblical prohibitions are they violating? Well, wives must be "submissive" to their husbands (I Peter 3:1). And all women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12), wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9) or dress in clothing that "pertains to a man" (Deuteronomy 22:5). Shellfish and pork are definitely out (Leviticus 11:7,10), as are usury (Deuteronomy 23:19), shaving (Leviticus 19:27) and clothes of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19). And since the Bible rarely recognizes divorce, they're committing adultery, which carries the rather harsh penalty of death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22). So why are they having such a good time? Probably because they wouldn't think of worrying about rules that seem absurd, anachronistic or -- at best -- unrealistic. Yet this same modern-day couple easily could be among the millions of people who never hesitate to lean on the Bible to justify their own anti-gay attitudes. Bible verses have long been used selectively to support many kinds of discrimination. Somewhere along the way, Jesus' second-greatest commandment gets lost: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Once a given form of prejudice falls out of favor with society, so do the verses that had seemed to condone it. It's unimaginable today, for example, that anyone would use the Bible to try to justify slavery. Yet when the abolitionist movement began to gain momentum in the early 19th century, many Southern ministers defended the owning of human beings as a divinely approved system: "Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters..." (Colossians 3:22). In an influential anti-abolitionist essay, South Carolina Baptist leader Richard Furman declared in 1822 that "the right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures." Meanwhile, anti-slavery crusaders were taking an interpretative approach to the Bible since a literal reading "gave little or no support to an abolitionist position," author Carl Degler says in "Place Over Time: The Continuity of Southern Distinctiveness." Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, a Virginia court defended racial segregation by saying, "The Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents...He did not intend for the races to mix." The U.S. Supreme Court rejected that reasoning in 1967 when it struck down laws in 16 states forbidding interracial marriage. Like advocates of racial equality, suffragists found the literal reading of the Bible was their biggest stumbling block. Many ministers even condemned using anesthesia during labor because pain in childbirth was punishment for Eve's bite of forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:16). Susan B. Anthony eventually declared in frustration: "I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." Studying the Bible is often akin to looking at Rohrschach ink blots, says Biblical scholar Joe Barnhart, author of "The Southern Baptist Holy War." "What we get out of it is sometimes what we put in," he explains. The punishment the Bible metes out to all men for Adam's downfall is toiling "in the sweat of your face" (Genesis 3:19). Yet, Barnhart notes with a laugh, there's one bit of progress never denounced by preachers hot under the clerical collar: air-conditioning.
Specific PassagesFor those who wish to use a certain religious text for bludgeoning gays and lesbians, read a few extra passages!
what the bible says, and doesn't sayThe Boston Globe, October 18, 1996Box 2378, Boston MA 02107 by Diego Ribadeneira, Globe Staff It is the world's greatest best seller, a cornerstone of Western civilization. A Bible can be found in most Christian homes in America, yet it remains largely unknown and misunderstood. Worse, ignorance of the Bible has led to the abuse and distortion of Scripture to promote racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and - in one of the most passionate contemporary religious debates - homosexuality. A cottage industry of books about religion and politics has sprouted. Biblical passages are used to promote religious agendas of right and left. But the Bible is too important to be left to ministers, theologians, religious activists or other so-called experts. For those baffled and disturbed by the culture wars that use the Bible as sword and shield, Rev. Peter J. Gomes' brilliant and thought-provoking book should be welcome. Rev. Gomes, a Baptist who is minister of Harvard's Memorial Church, professor of Christian morals at Harvard and one of the nation's most renowned preachers, has provided a wonderful road map to a text that, if read properly, can provide solace and wisdom in troubled times. Rev. Gomes shows how the Bible has been used as an instrument for injustice. Anyone confused about what Scripture has to say about abortion, the rights and roles of women, homosexuality and other tough topics will find his book useful and challenging. ``These discussions are intended to remind the faithful of the wickedness done in the name of good, of God, and of the Bible,'' Rev. Gomes writes, ``and to make us more cautious and self-conscious of the besetting sin, alas, endemic to the faithful, of confusing our cultural prejudices with the immutable will of God, and of using the Bible as a footnote to our convictions.'' Regarding abortion, perhaps the most divisive issue in America today, Rev. Gomes skillfully points out the dangers of taking the Bible literally. Ardent abortion foes commonly cite Exodus 20:13 to buttress their position. In many English translations, the commandment says, ``Thou shalt not kill.'' But, as Rev. Gomes points out, this is a poor translation. Older versions of the Bible came closer to the real meaning: ``Thou shalt do no murder.'' Rev. Gomes writes, ``Murder, in the Hebrew language and culture, refers to the premeditated taking of life outside the womb; killing had to do with the ritual slaughter of animals for sacrifice. Not only is the Bible therefore silent on the question of abortion, but the one text used to justify opposition to it is wrongly construed in English.'' Rev. Gomes, who is gay, argues that the use of Bible passages to cast homosexuality as a sin is the product of simplistic interpretation and a failure to comprehend the context in which Scripture was written. In reading Paul's Letter to the Romans, for example, most modern readers assume references to ``dishonorable passions,'' ``unnatural relations'' and ``shameless acts'' are a clear condemnation of homosexuality, a word that Rev. Gomes points out had no comparable counterpart in biblical languages. Beyond that, a more nuanced appreciation of Paul's times would reveal, Rev. Gomes says, that the ``homosexuality Paul would have known and to which he makes reference in his letters ... has to do with pederasty and male prostitution. What is patently unknown to Paul is the concept of a homosexual nature ... something that is beyond choice, that is not necessarily characterized by lust, avarice, idolatry or exploitation. ... All Paul knew of homosexuality was the debauched pagan expression of it.'' Paul cannot be faulted for his ignorance, Rev. Gomes asserts, but neither should it be an excuse for our own prejudice. Reading the Bible closely and thoughtfully is no easy task. Yet Rev. Gomes' superb book shows how vital and rewarding it can be. ``The Bible and the history of interpretation, therefore, is the precious record of human people's exchanges and transactions with their holy book and with the Holy One,'' he writes. ``In seeking the good life we seek the one who is good, who not only gives life but gives life meaning, value, and worth beyond itself.'' Some Believe in Selective PrinciplesBy John TallySan Francisco. With publicity over gay marriages, the debate over homosexuality and the Bible once again fills the radio talk-show airwaves. Many of the hosts support gay marriages, but biblical arguments favoring the Christian fundamentalist cause go unchallenged. The debate usually goes something like this.
But with a few hours of Bible reading, the host could unmask the ever-popular New Covenant argument for what it really is: a justification for selective prejudice.
Since fundamentalists are rarely confronted with these and other troubling Biblical passages, most sincerely think they believe every word of the Bible. When has Jerry Falwell called for the stoning for Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Pete and Gayle Wilson, and everyone else who has remarried after divorce? When has the Christian Coalition ever organized to ban women from teaching positions and from elected office? No, it's selective prejudice and old-fashioned fear of the unknown that motivates fundamentalists to target gays and lesbians. Biblical principle has nothing to do with it. Take away the phony claim to a literal view of the Bible, and the religious argument against homosexuality falls like a house of cards. John Tally is a San Francisco attorney. This column was first published in the San Francisco Examiner. The Rev. Blow gives a sermon on the mouse
by Steve Blow Dallas Morning News Wednesday, June 19, 1996Hallelujah! Thank you Sister Jones for singing that wonderful special. Wasn't that a joyful noise? I'm telling you, those high notes set the Holy Spirit shooting through me like a bug zapper on a June bug. Well, dear friends, welcome to another Wednesday prayer meeting here at the First Southern-Fried, Self-Satisfied Babatist Church. I'm so fired up I just can't wait to start preachin'. But before I get down to business, I just have to give you a little report from our annual Babatist convention. I'm so proud to be a Babatist today I could just bust. We have finally got this denomination on the right track. And it's a wonderful thing to see the precious foot of Jesus mashin' down on the necks of sorry sinners. As you know, I wasn't so happy last year. Our mighty denomination veered off the road and got into such silliness as apologizing for past racial sins. Apologizing! Wallowing around like a bunch of sob sisters. Makin' us look plum silly! We got nothing to apologize for. God made us the largest Protestant denomination in the world! Or to put it another way, we're the largest religious group in the world actually going to heaven! [sub] Amen! Well, this year we didn't get sidetracked by none of that meek-and-mild nonsense. No sir-ree, we was a bunch of bird dogs on point, flushing out conveys of sinners left and right. Take that Disney bunch. Oh they had us fooled for a long time with their little mouse ears and cartoons. But if you get to analyzing things, you can see that they were up to no good right from the start. How come Donald Duck never wore no pants? Think about that. Had all those little "nephews" running around and him naked as a jaybird from the waist down! And what about that Annette Funnicello and her tight little Mouseketeer sweater? Weren't no boys looking at them big mouse ears, I can tell you that. And don't even get me started on Snow White. Shacked up with a bunch of midgets! I hate to think what kinds of kinkiness went on there. Hi-ho, indeed! Now Disney has really gone off the deep end. Welcoming homosexhuls into their parks just like they was normal! Well, you won't find any more good Babatists goin' to their little fairyland. And then there's that other group we got singled out for salvation. Them Jews. I'll tell you, there's nothing that makes my blood boil quicker than to hear some smart-aleck say, "But Jesus was a Jew." My eye! Well sure, he may have been born into a Jewish family on his mama's side. But we can read plain as day in our Bibles that before Jesus started preachin', he stopped by to see his cousin John and get his credentials in order. And that's cousin John the What? John, the Babatist, of course. John dunked him good. So Jesus may have gone under that water a half-breed Jew boy, but we all know that he came up as a bona fide Southern Babatist. Weren't no Lutheran. Weren't no Roamin' Catholic or Bicycling Mormon. Weren't no New Age Hippie-Dippie Crystal Wearing Nut, neither! [sub] Hallelujah! Oh, dear brothers and sisters, we almost let the forces of evil overtake our precious Babatist Convention. And you know what I'm talking about: The "deep thinker" crowd. The "love-one-another" crowd. The "put-the-scripture-in-context" crowd. Some people call them "moderates." But I say we go ahead and call 'em by their real name --- Methodists! That's right. They're not Babatists a'tall. They're a bunch of misguided souls on that slippery slope of introspection and contemplation. Oh, dear friends, it's a path that ultimately leads down the into the very depths of Presbyterianism. It just breaks my heart to think about all the lost-as-a-goose sinners out there, wandering around synagogues and Disney stores. Keep 'em in your prayers, dear brethren and sisterns. OK, beloved Babatists, enough about that. It's sermon time. Let's all open our Bibles and close our minds... . Steve Blow will be in the back pew of his Southern Baptist Church this Sunday.
why you really go to hellAren't you the fortunate one, with so many people looking out for your salvation? Well, I want to add my name to that list of folks who have nothing better to do than to help YOU determine if you get to heaven or not...I have had this little ditty saved for several years now... not sure of source. Below is a little list I compiled a while back while arguing with a fundamentalist. He tried to make the case that the Bible condemned homosexuality and therefore, blah blah blah, I was going to hell. This got me wondering... how many people are going to hell, anyhow? And for what? This curiosity led to the compilation of this list of exactly WHY people are going to hell. This is not a definitive list, by any means. This is just all I could find in one afternoon. You Are Going To Hell If You...
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